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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1933
The Betrayal Commission Ü oes the title o f this edi torial seem too severe ? The facts here brought out, available to every one in the published re port, must be the answer. The Com mission members are before the world as followers of Christ; their conclusions betray His cause, His commission, and His name. The Appraisal Commission has become The Betrayal Commission. Christian missions are assumed throughout the book to. be a human movement of human origin. But true Christian missions are o f di vine; not human, origin and con duct. “ Go ye therefore, and;teach all nations, . . . and, Id, I am with you alway,-”' said our ' Lord, the Head of the Church. “ The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” The Commission says “ the reli gious mission . . . takes the special form of promoting one’s own type of thought.” “ Religious” missions may do this ; Christian missions do not ; they teach “ whatsoever I have commanded you.” “ At the center of the religious mission;!’ ; sayS the Commission, “ there is an always valid impulse of love to men.” Now love to men is,
cere and aspiring seekers after God in other re ligions are to be damned: It has become less concerned in any land to save men from eternal punishment than from the danger'of losing the supreme good. Is “the present conception” the standard for missionary operation, or is the Word of God the standard? Did the Lord Jesus Christ'know when He attached to the. ;GreaL Commission these solemn words: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ;;-but he that believeth not shall be damned” ? Was He not competent to declare this who was in the bosom of the Fa ther from all eternity, who was Himself God, by whom all things were made, the Life and the Light of men, their only Saviour? Did He not know? Did He not provide and offer to all men by the sacrifice of H imself on the cross the “supreme good,” and commission all His mes sengers to the end of the age 'to offer the same?, These fifteen appraisal commissioners seem to be unsympathetic with the whole modern mis-: sionary movement. They regard the workers on the field as largely incompetent, and the major ity o f the mission churches as small and of questionable vjlue. They say: “There is a long list of weak churches and dull services-to re port.” With this, compare the tender words of the Master: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” What will the churches do with this report ? Will they sanction it or reject it? In any case, it will tend to cut the nerve of missions. If ac cepted and literally followed, it would mean .death not only to foreign missions, but also death to the church at large. A nonmissionary church soon becomes a missing church. Let the watchword be, “Back to Christ and the apostles and Pentecost and the pioneer mis sionaries, and forward as an army with banners to the world’s sure and speedy evangelization.”
the modernistic group in this serious matter and then appoint another committee of the most spir itual and experienced men avail able, for a survey of the conditions o f the home church. As the stream o f missions cannot rise higher than its source, the fountainhead should be purified and elevated and freed from all obstructions. This ap praisal body would soon tabulate something like this: The church at home is far removed from the scriptural standard. It is honey combed with worldliness, unbelief, rationalism, formalism, indiffer ence, pleasure-seeking, and conse quent lack of influence and power.' In general, it grossly neglects the W ord of God, prayer, public and family worship, personal work, church discipline, consecration, and world-wide evangelization. O f five leading denominations the mem bers are averaging only one cent a day for missions. Eleven repre sentative denominations give less than one-twentieth as much for for eign missions as for home work. Thousands o f churches give noth ing for foreign missions. Fairs and festivals and bazaars and amusement programs are substi tuted for God’s method of raising money, that is, by voluntary, proportionate, c h e e r fu l g iv in g .
of course, a vital part o f Christian life and missions. But missions based only on love to, men are powerless because dead. Paul, the first and final norm for all true mission aries, said “ the love of Christ constraineth us . . . and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are .ambassadors for Christ.” Paul loved men be cause he loved the Lord. Throughout the report there is practically no mention of love, for God or for Christ as the great motive of missions, but only an altruistic attitude toward fellow men. There is no recognitioh o f the' Supernatural,-’-except to condemn it as superstition. The entire report is a study by the natural man of that which no natural man can under-: stand, for “ the natural man receiveth not the things o f the Spirit o f God: for they are foolishness unto him.” . . . Surely the strange,¿sinister, Satanic document issued by the Appraisal Commission is a reminder to the true Church of Christ that “ we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” ; and is a call to all who bear the name of Christ to “ take unto you the whole armour of God, . . . and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word o f God,” that we may pray prevailingly that utterance may be given unto the ambassadors :of Ghrist, that they may speak boldly, “ to make known the mystery of the gospel.” — T he S unday S chool T imes . The Cover Picture The sixty-year-old cypresses shown in the cover picture stand on the campus of the American University of Beirut, Syria, overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea. A coastal sailing ship from Sidon is seen beating north toward An tioch and Smyrna. Beirut was the seat of law schools foun ded by the Emperor Justinian, compiler of the corpus juris.
The church has billions of money, but no healing for the hurt of humanity. Persevering, prevailing prayer is largely a lost art. Prayer meetings are being abandoned, evening services dispensed with in many places, and church attendance is fast declining. The church generally has lost its song, its testimony, and its influence. The masses are unchurched, unsought, unsaved, and untaught. Many thousands o f children have no religious instruction in home or school or church. Joy rides and ball games and golf links and picture shows are well patronized, and that on the Lord’s Day. A N eed for C onfession In this sad and deplorable condition, a duly const!-. tuted committee whose hearts the Lord had touched would issue an immediate and urgent call for penitence, con fession, humiliation, and prayer. The Spirit o f God would cooperate, and soon, in cottages and parlors and mission halls and churches, God’s people would assemble and would wait on Him till the heavens were opened and showers of blessing were poured out. Soon the fire would spread, a world-wide revival would result, and multitudes would be saved. . . . . • In such an atmosphere, a new spirit of missions would be born. If the Lord should tarry, a great army of youths would heed the King’s call, and would go forth to the ends o f the earth as His endued ambassadors, with His glad message of salvation and peace. This is the cure of the present troubles of the church and the solution of the present missionary problem. May it soon be made effectual. Till then a fitting prayer would be :
Revive Thy work, O Lord, Thy mighty arm make bare, Speak with the voice that wakes the dead, And make Thy people hear,
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